World War Two

Find old World War 2 articles here. We have great newspaper articles from wwii check them out today!

The American Half-Track (Yank Magazine, 1943)

This YANK MAGAZINEarticle was written shortly after the U.S. Army’s triumphant performance during the Battle of El Guettar in Tunisia (March 23 – April 7, 1943) and rambles on with much enthusiasm regarding the admirable performance of the M2 Half Tracks. Half Tracks were used on many fronts throughout the war and in many ways, yet as this article makes clear these armored vehicles at El Guettar were mounted with a field gun and used to devastating effect as tank-destroyers against the German 10th Panzer Division.

The writer, Ralph G. Martinstyle=border:none

/
went on in later years to become a prolific historian and biographer.

Click here to read an article about German half-tracks.

The American Half-Track (Yank Magazine, 1943) Read More »

The American Half-Track (Yank Magazine, 1943)

This YANK MAGAZINEarticle was written shortly after the U.S. Army’s triumphant performance during the Battle of El Guettar in Tunisia (March 23 – April 7, 1943) and rambles on with much enthusiasm regarding the admirable performance of the M2 Half Tracks. Half Tracks were used on many fronts throughout the war and in many ways, yet as this article makes clear these armored vehicles at El Guettar were mounted with a field gun and used to devastating effect as tank-destroyers against the German 10th Panzer Division.

The writer, Ralph G. Martinstyle=border:none

/
went on in later years to become a prolific historian and biographer.

Click here to read an article about German half-tracks.

The American Half-Track (Yank Magazine, 1943) Read More »

The American Half-Track (Yank Magazine, 1943)

This YANK MAGAZINEarticle was written shortly after the U.S. Army’s triumphant performance during the Battle of El Guettar in Tunisia (March 23 – April 7, 1943) and rambles on with much enthusiasm regarding the admirable performance of the M2 Half Tracks. Half Tracks were used on many fronts throughout the war and in many ways, yet as this article makes clear these armored vehicles at El Guettar were mounted with a field gun and used to devastating effect as tank-destroyers against the German 10th Panzer Division.

The writer, Ralph G. Martinstyle=border:none

/
went on in later years to become a prolific historian and biographer.

Click here to read an article about German half-tracks.

The American Half-Track (Yank Magazine, 1943) Read More »

Hello, Denim (Collier’s Magazine, 1942)

The editors at COLLIER’S MAGAZINE could not have known the significance of this subject back in 1942, yet to those Americans born after 1960 who read these old columns, it seems like a sign post that pointed the way to the sportswear of the future. Verily, few are the Americans who tread the fruited plane today who do not see at least one pair of jeans every day. Blue jeans have become the symbol of the nation, just as much as the flag.


This 1940s article pointed out that more and more Americans are waking up to denim. They found that it suited them and deemed it a sensible fabric in light of the new agricultural and industrial toil that needed to be finished if the fascists were to be beaten. However, denim was not some newfangled wartime invention; denim has been on the American scene since 1853 – in the Western gold mines and barnyards, roundhouses and cattle ranges.

Some seven years before this article hit the newsstands American teenagers began wearing jeans, but it was W.W. II that created a market for women’s jeans, and for good or ill, the course of American sportswear was forever altered.

A far more thorough fashion history of blue jeans can be read here.

Hello, Denim (Collier’s Magazine, 1942) Read More »

‘They, Too, Have Fought and Died” (Maptalk, 1945)

You’re damn right those Nisei boys have a place in the American heart, now and forever. And I say soldiers ought to form a pickaxe club to protect the Japanese-Americans who fought the war with us. Any time we see a barfly commando picking on those kids or discriminating against them, we ought to bang them over the head with a pickaxe. I’m willing to be a charter member.


General Joseph W. Stillwell


Read the letters of American soldiers and Marines who recognized
the injustice that was done to the Japanese-Americans…

‘They, Too, Have Fought and Died” (Maptalk, 1945) Read More »

The Japanese-Americans of the OSS (Rob Wagner’s Script, 1946)

Printed on the attached two pages is an informative history of the vital contributions that were made by the Japanese-Americans who served in the O.S.S. behind enemy lines during the Burma-China campaign. Additionally, the men who toiled on behalf of the Southeast Asia Translation and Interrogation Center are also praised. This article does not hold back in giving credit where it is due – many are the names that were remembered with gratitude.

The Japanese-Americans of the OSS (Rob Wagner’s Script, 1946) Read More »

The D-Day Landing Crafts (Click Magazine, 1942)

If you ever wondered why The National W.W. II Museum is located in New Orleans rather than West Point, Annapolis or the nation’s capitol – the answer can be spoken in two words: Andrew Higgins. Higgins was the innovator who designed and manufactured the landing crafts that made it possible for the Allied forces to land on all those far-flung beaches throughout the world and show those Fascists dogs a thing or two. His factory, Higgins Industries, was located on Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans and it was for this reason that the museum board of directors chose to doff their collective caps, and erect their repository in his home town.


Attached is a five page photo-essay about Higgins and all that he was doing to aid in the war effort.

The D-Day Landing Crafts (Click Magazine, 1942) Read More »

The Mettle of Americans (Click Magazine, 1944)

Following his tour of the war fronts, U.S. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (1902 – 1985) put pen to paper in an attempt to express his admiration for the brave and selfless acts that Americans were performing all over the globe:

If asked to say what impressed me on my recent trip to the war theater, my answer would be: the heroic qualities displayed by our American boys. My most lasting impressions were gained in the field and in the hospitals around the globe. It is there that one sees the kind of boy America produces.


Additional praise for the American fighting man can be read here…

The Mettle of Americans (Click Magazine, 1944) Read More »

The WACs (Think Magazine, 1946)

The Women’s Army Corps (WAC), first organized as an auxiliary May 14, 1942, became ‘regular army’ a little more than a year later…They were secretaries and stenographers for generals. They operated switchboards which kept communications alive throughout the European theater of operations…Their keen eyes and quick fingers made them expert as parachute riggers. They became weather experts [charting the aerial routes for the long-range bombers of the U.S. Eighth Air Force].

140,000 women served as WACs – – although this article stated that there were only 100,000.

The WACs (Think Magazine, 1946) Read More »